


Lost and Found

by TinyDemonWriter



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast), The Adventure Zone Amnesty
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, all you need to know, and duck has taken him under his wing, is that keith is a chosen one, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-09 01:07:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18906406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinyDemonWriter/pseuds/TinyDemonWriter
Summary: Zeke and Duck have a complicated relationship.





	Lost and Found

Zeke and Duck have a complicated relationship.

Back in high school, the were in different social crowds. Zeke was a good student. He went to class, got good grades, was in the student council. Maybe he wasn’t friends with everyone, and he had a bit of a bit of a temper, but he always tried.

Duck, on the other hand, was lazy. He skipped class to go skating and smoked pot out behind the school. So, back then, Zeke wrote off Duck as someone unimportant, and moved on.

After high school, Zeke worked his ass off to become the sheriff, moving up in rank slow and steady. He observed Duck from the sidelines, not really actively paying attention to him. So it took him awhile to notice that Duck went from someone who Zeke couldn’t understand, to someone a little more respectable, at least in his opinion. When he did notice, Zeke had a newfound respect for him. Park Ranger wasn’t something that Zeke wanted to be, but he was, in a sense, glad for Duck. They still didn’t get along, mind you, but they worked on neutral ground now.

And that was that, for a while.

Then Zeke has kids and he’s invested in his son, then his sons, and then he’s grieving over his wife, and he doesn’t have time to think about Duck Newton. Doesn’t have time for the way that Zeke could see himself being friends with him one day, despite everything. He’s too busy running a town. Too busy running a too big, too empty household on his own.

When Keith joins the hornets instead of pursuing college, Zeke reflects back on high school, back on Duck Newton, and how he had changed. He thought that, given time, Keith would grow up to help people instead of doing… whatever the hell it is the hornets do. So, he’s a little disappointed, of course he is, but ultimately doesn’t make a fuss. People change, Duck did, Zeke has, and so it stands to reason that Keith will too.

And Keith does, just not in the way he hopes.

One day, he has two sons, albeit one who does things he doesn’t necessarily like, and the next it’s like he only has one, and Zeke is at a loss. Never, _never_ , have they been like this. Even when they were at their lowest of lows. Even at the height of their arguments. Never has his son ghosted him like this.

Skipping dinners that were meant to be weekly, coming up with excuses, ones that aren’t believable in the slightest. No longer does he see him, even at work when he has is head in his hands as Keith grins, bruised eye, talking about how it’s technically self defense so nothing can really happen. It’s like he’s just…gone. Even when he’s there in person, he’s not _really_ there.

And it hurts

He loves his son so much and he can’t help but wonder what he did wrong, where he had crossed the line. And-

Months pass.

Visits stop all together.

He hasn’t seen Keith, hasn’t seen his son, in three weeks now.

Until he does.

And he sees him with Duck fucking Newton.

And he’s… angry a bit. Hurt, sad, and so, so helpless. But he sees his little boy laughing, and he hasn’t seen that in months.

They’re out in the forest, doing god knows what with… is that a sword, what the fuck?

“What the fuck?” Zeke says aloud, blinking but no, the swords are still there. He isn’t just seeing things. Okay. Okay cool. Is this what his son has been doing the whole time?

“Oh,” Keith says, startled. “Hey dad.”

And Zeke wants to scream

Hey dad? After weeks of not seeing or hearing from his son, all he gets is a hey dad? Is that all he’s worth?

But this is his boy, and no matter how hurt he is, he won’t lash out like that. He’s not that type of dad, refuses to be that type of dad.

And, well, his son looks happy and healthy, and Duck has grown to be a respectable man so-

So he smiles and asks what’s up, how ya been? And he sees the glance that Duck and Keith share, but he doesn’t care. Because his son smiles and says nothing, they just found these swords casually lying in the woods and wanted to have some fun. (And maybe the smile is strained, and maybe Keith’s voice catches, and maybe he’s giving all the tells of a truly terrible liar, but fuck if he cares. His son is _talking to him again_. He’ll not push this once, if that’s what it takes to keep his son.)

And after that, it’s like Duck and Keith are everywhere. He sees Duck and Keith so often but he never presses. Never asks how they came to be friends in the first place.

And maybe a small part of him is jealous of Duck, since it’s obvious that he spends more time with his son than Zeke does, but he pushes past that. He can see his kid again and that’s all that really matters, in the end. So, he sees his son more, and talks to him and a part of his heart mends again.

He notices the bruises, the cuts, the scrapes. But he doesn’t hear of any fights, never hears the grand retellings of protecting those who couldn’t protect themselves, isn’t that what you’ve always wanted me to do? And he wants to ask, but, well.

He just got his son back and he doesn’t want- No. _Can’t_ lose him again.

And well, the visits he gets from Duck himself are… enjoyable.

And he feels, slowly but surely, the void his wife left starting to fill again.

He’s smarter this time around. Knows the signs and how to navigate it- it’s still scary but he knows what to do, now.

Zeke talks to Duck more often and reflects on him once more. And maybe it’s amusing on some level, downright weird in some aspects but, it works. Somehow, they work. It’s not labeled, they don’t really need that anymore. It’s just fun. Easy. Enjoyable.

So, it makes it that much more devastating to realize just how much everyone has been lying to him. How much _Duck_ has been lying to him.

 

He doesn’t know what Keith does all the time (it falls into those categories of Things They Don’t Talk About), but he has a general idea of where he can be found. Zeke is sheriff for a reason, he can recognize patterns.

As such, he knows that today he’s at the lodge, a little bit after the full moon. (A weird thing, he reflects on later, that his first, seemingly ridiculous thought was werewolves. He had, at the time, laughed at himself for thinking it, but oh how right he was, in a way)

Zeke heads up to the lodge and is confused by the panic that permeates the air. The FBI agent isn’t here, so there wasn’t an obvious reason for it.

Nothing against Stern, but well. The man is FBI. Even Zeke is on edge around him.

It seems the panic is coming from downstairs and usually Zeke wouldn’t investigate, but he hears a pained shout and. He’s heard that sound before, when Keith was younger and fell off his bike the first time. It’s deeper now, but Zeke just _knows_ his son is hurt.

He throws protocol out the window and _launches_ himself down the stairs, and nearly runs right into Duck Newton.

He’s confused, at first, but then realizes it makes sense, what with how often they’re together, presumably because Duck is mentoring Keith. So he asks what’s wrong, what happened? And he can tell from the moment that Duck opens his mouth that his next words are going to be a lie.

He’s angry. How dare he try to lie to him about his son, and he pushes past Duck into the room where Keith is and stops. And. Stares.

His son, his _baby boy_ is bleeding heavily. So much that Zeke thought that his shirt was red, but recognizes the patch on the front and knows that shirt used to be white.

Zeke is torn. Part of him wants to go and cradle his son, and part of him wants to round back on Duck and start interrogating him since it’s obvious that he knew what had happened. He notices the other few people by his son, and one of them, Aubrey he believes, seems to be slightly injured as well. A scratch that’s slowly oozing blood. But it’s not to the extent of his son, and he doesn’t know what to do.

He stands there, looking at him, before he runs up to the table his son is laying on, pressing a finger to his pulse point and sighs in relief when it’s there. Faint, but present. He runs his hands through Keith’s hair like he used to when he was a kid, and turns his glare on the room at large.

“What. The fuck. Happened. To. My. _Son_ ,” he snarls, niceties be damned. He’s not a sheriff right now, he’s a dad and he demands answers. If he has to show his badge to get them he will, but he will get some fucking answers.

Aubrey starts the story haltingly, before Madeline steps in, and suddenly everyone is talking at once, the story pouring out.

And he learns of all the nonsense that had been happening in his town for so long that he was never aware of. Cryptids, abominations, a gate to another _world_. He learns that his baby, Calvin, had even been involved all those months ago, even if he wasn’t entirely sure of it.

And he turns. And he faces Duck. And he reassess his stance on him one last time.

Funny, charming, a little bit of a dumbass but in a cute kind of way.

Liar.

And as he looks down at his son once more, he vows to protect Keith. To protect his child. They’ll have a talk when he wakes up.

So long as he wakes up.

Please wake up.

_Please._

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to Leila, or [@mamashousewife on tumblr](https://mamashousewife.tumblr.com/) for the use of her au!
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed! My tumblr is [here](https://tinydemondragon.tumblr.com/)! Comments and Kudos are the only thing keeping the monster in my heart at bay :) please help me keep it locked up tight!


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